I watched the documentary Unknown White Male about a guy who basically wakes up with complete amnesia and no identification on him. I saw it after reading the fanfic Unidentified which uses the same premise. I liked the story better than the movie. The movie was okay, but slow, which I find to be true of most documentaries.

I read Lolita as one of my banned books. While reading it, I kept wondering about the origin of the classic or stereotypical characteristics of a pedophile. Did Lolita draw from what was known at the time regarding the psychology/motivations/characteristics of a pedophile? Or did Lolita formulate that image in the public consciousness? I'd guess the former, it's just that I kept noticing how the book kept matching what "they say" regarding pedophilia, which made me wonder.

While I'm not likely to reread the book, it's definitely a decent literary work that doesn't feel like "literature" in the negative (clockwork orange) sense.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

This goal was to do individual play dates with nieces and nephew. First up was Esme. We walked around the park, went to the playground, and watch the ice skating rink. She enjoyed watching the Zamboni. Her favorite seemed to be going and playing in the "snow" dumped by the Zamboni. Afterwords we got cocoa and a doughnut. Fairly successful all around.

So I planned a date for Ted and I: going to Boston Kebab House and the Aquarium. I'm counting this as the first planned date, but Ted thinks it's number three. (We did a picnic along the river and a trip to the Ignoble awards, both of which I planned. But I wasn't thinking of them as new date things, so I don't think I'll count them.)

The Kebab House was good. If I was in the area for lunch, I'd eat there, but it's not something I'd make a trip out of my way for. I would like to try their Meze bar sometime - we got there late enough that it was pretty sparse.

The Aquarium was nice. We stayed just over an hour. Since we got free tickets from my work, I was happy with the value, but I wouldn't want to pay $20+ to see it. I really like the mini jelly fish, the penguins were cute, and I felt sorry for the octopus.

101 Goals in 1001 Days List

Food Related1. [Done]Make at least 2 different kinds of cheese, [1,2] (1/2)2.[Done] Preserve at least two foods by canning or pickling, or freezing [1][2](1/2)3. [Done] Make no-knead bread4. [Done] Make butter5. Make yogurt6. Make jam (that keeps)7. Make jerky8. Make a soufflé9. [Done] Pack lunch every day for a week10. [Done] Try 10 new foods [1,2] [3,4], [5,6,7][8],[9], [10]11. Enter a cooking/recipe contest

Crafts12. Knit or crochet a pair of socks13. Design and sew a quilt14. Make dipped and molded candles (0/2)15. Make paper16. Make soap17. Make lip balm18. [Done] Make Chocolates (was make gourd bowl)19. Make and fly a box kite20. Finish stain glass box21. [Done] Finish knitted sweater22. Carve something (out of wood or soap)

Art & Writing44. Write a song (instrumental) for piano or psaltery45. Write and submit a non-academic math article46. Paint a picture47. Draw (charcoal/pencil) picture48. Calligraphy a poem or saying49. Submit crossword puzzle for publication50. Revise and submit math article51. Write a short story (fan fic okay)52. Design a new board game

Buy53. Be fitted for a bra and replace ones that don't fit54. Spend $250 on something completely self-indulgent55. Get at least one piece of jewelry for specific outfit and wear it

Maintenance/Household56. [done] Sort through clothes closet57. [done] Organize bookmarks (was Set up an IRA)58. Digitalize CD collection59. Trade 2 games not played for new games60. [done] Get my laptop working properly